A common concern among CIOs today is operating their IT departments as a business. In a way, these CIOs are beginning to think like COOs. And as they do, they’re implementing changes that lead to improvements in their operations. They’re managing their workflows more strategically and effectively, and that pays dividends for customers. As IT leaders bolster IT operations, they’re also adding value to their companies.

So how can an IT team intent on internal improvement ensure that its transformation helps the company as whole? I tell my clients to tackle such initiatives in three distinct steps.

Modern business is a complex web of interwoven relationships. As I work with organizations across a variety of industries, I’m amazed at the networks of suppliers, consultants and partners that companies bring together to create competitive products and services. While these partnerships deliver tremendous value, they also bring new risks. In fact, the Ponemon Institute recently estimated that data breaches are roughly 9 percent more expensive when third parties are involved. The bottom line is that you can outsource various business functions, but you can’t outsource risk.

Let’s take a look at three things organizations can do to better manage the hundreds of vendors that compromise their supply chains. This is the core of building a robust vendor performance and risk management program.

Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.”

I always keep this quote in mind when working with school districts on modern learning environments that bring together devices, audiovisual tools and flexible furniture to foster collaboration and student-centered learning. Through our Blueprint to Design™ program, CDW helps schools with each step of a modern technology implementation, and I’m on many consultation calls with educators. They bring great passion and ideas to these conversations, but it occurred to me that the process would be even more effective if educators asked themselves a few key questions first.

Today’s faster broadband speeds have enabled more and more employers to offer work from home as an option for a variety of reasons. If your organization is on a full contact center cloud solution, you’re likely already WFH-enabled. For everyone else, having a WFH strategy in place is a must, but many companies don’t know where to begin — especially in the realm of the contact center.

With a few simple steps, CDW can help deploy a solid WFH strategy to make sure your agents can still service customers and keep your business on track.

Patients are more involved with their healthcare than ever before. There are many factors behind this increased involvement, including the increasing use of mobile and telehealth tools as well as other healthcare communication technologies. By improving collaboration among patients, providers and clinicians, these solutions improve patient engagement and outcomes, all while streamlining care.

Often, when I’m working with clients on their digital signage deployments, they seem to lose interest a bit after we’ve discussed the hardware and I’ve moved on to professional services. Perhaps because digital displays share superficial similarities with the televisions and computer monitors we all have in our homes, many business leaders assume that their staff can handle the installation, configuration and management of these solutions on their own.

But, as a quick web search for the phrase “video wall collapse” will reveal, there’s plenty that can go wrong.